Detection of Dust in High-velocity Cloud Complex C–Enriched Gas Accreting onto the Milky Way

Abstract

We present the detection of dust depletion in Complex C, a massive, infalling, low-metallicity high-velocity cloud in the northern Galactic hemisphere that traces the ongoing accretion of gas onto the Milky Way. We analyze a very high signal-to-noise Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph spectrum of active galactic nucleus (AGN) Mrk 817 formed by coadding 165 individual exposures taken under the AGN STORM 2 program, allowing us to determine dust-depletion patterns in Complex C at unprecedented precision. By fitting Voigt components to the O i , S ii , N i , Si ii , Fe ii , and Al ii absorption and applying ionization corrections from customized Cloudy photoionization models, we find subsolar elemental abundance ratios of [Fe/S] = −0.42 ± 0.08, [Si/S] = −0.29 ± 0.05, and [Al/S] = −0.53 ± 0.08. These ratios indicate the depletion of Fe, Si, and Al into dust grains, since S is mostly undepleted. The detection of dust provides an important constraint on the origin of Complex C, as dust grains indicate the gas has been processed through galaxies, rather than being purely extragalactic. We also derive a low metallicity of Complex C of [S/H] = −0.51 ± 0.16 (≈31% solar), confirming earlier results from this sight line. We discuss origin models that could explain the presence of dust in Complex C, including Galactic fountain models, tidal stripping from the Magellanic Clouds or other satellite galaxies, and precipitation of coronal gas onto dust-bearing “seed” clouds.

Keywords

• Interstellar dust
• Ultraviolet astronomy
• High-velocity clouds
• Chemical abundances
• Circumgalactic medium